Easter Is for Everybody - A Conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden

8 snips

Apr 16, 2025

Amanda Suarez, a school psychologist and conscious parenting coach, and Jon Ogden, a writer and author, co-founded Uplift Kids to help families explore spirituality and emotional health. They share a refreshing view of Easter, intertwining the resurrection story with chocolate bunnies and deep questions. Their approach honors each child's stage and invites diverse family beliefs, promoting open dialogue and connection. Through relatable analogies, they emphasize hope and transformation, encouraging families to embrace all layers of the Easter narrative.

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INSIGHT

Harmony Approach to Easter

A harmony approach to Easter embraces all ways of celebrating and honors each child's developmental stage.
Connection and relationship are central, allowing everyone to show up authentically while belonging together.

INSIGHT

Celebrate All Beliefs

Celebrating all beliefs within a family fosters deeper connection, even with those who no longer believe.
Avoiding difficult topics limits growth; embracing diversity of perspectives enriches relationships.

ADVICE

Honor Easter’s Many Layers

Recognize the many layers of Easter, from its biblical roots to cultural and commercial aspects.
Include and honor all layers without rejection to enrich holiday meaning for everyone.

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With Easter just a few days away, we’re so excited to share this conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden.

Amanda and Jon are two of the co-founders of Uplift Kids, a lesson library and curriculum that helps families explore spirituality, values, and emotional health together. Amanda is a school psychologist and certified conscious parenting coach, and Jon is a writer, curriculum creator, and author of When Mormons Doubt.

In this conversation, Amanda and Jon offer a beautiful vision of Easter through the lens of what Brian McLaren calls the “harmony” stage of faith—a perspective they also bring to their work with Uplift Kids. They paint a picture of Easter made more meaningful—not less—by welcoming it all: the story of Jesus’ resurrection, the chocolate bunnies, the deep questions, and the simple joy.

It’s an approach that honors the unique developmental stage of each child and the evolving faith of each adult, making room for everyone to show up just as they are. And for many families gathering this time of year, that kind of spaciousness matters—especially when there are likely a variety of beliefs around the table and a wide range of needs, from toddlers to teens to adults.

Rather than avoiding depth or walking on eggshells around belief, Amanda and Jon invite us to embrace the richness that comes from letting all the layers belong. That richness can become an opening—for deeper connection, for real growth, and for the kind of transformation that Easter is all about.

At its heart, this conversation invites us to let go of pressure and agendas, to lean into love and presence, and to trust that what’s needed will rise naturally in its own time. Easter, after all, is a story of life, death and rebirth—and that same pattern is quietly at work in our lives and families too.

We hope this conversation fills you with the peace this Easter season brings and with that, here’s our conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden.

https://upliftkids.org/

When Mormons Doubt

Bookshop affiliate link: https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781535350372